Reata Park opens in San Juan Capistrano

Cowboy Ken has fun with children at the grand opening of San Juan Capistrano's Reata Park and Event Center as he demonstrates how a cow would be branded. DARNELL RENEE, CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

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Adelia Sandoval, cultural director for the Juaneno Band of Mission Indians, Acjachemen Nation, performs a blessing during a dedication ceremony Saturday for Reata Park and Event Center in San Juan Capistrano. DARNELL RENEE, CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

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Mayor Sam Allevato, left, greets Mike Evans of Tree of Life Nursery during the dedication ceremony Saturday for the new Reata Park and Event Center in San Juan Capistrano. Evans managed the placement and planting of the park's approximately 240 species of native plants. DARNELL RENEE, CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

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A color guard of the 1st Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, the “adopted” unit of San Juan Capistrano, raises the flag at the grand opening of the city's Reata Park and Event Center. DARNELL RENEE, CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

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Gilbert Aguirre, left, executive vice president of ranching operations for Rancho Mission Viejo, greets Dick Paulsen, vice president of the San Juan Capistrano Open Space Foundation, at the grand opening of Reata Park and Event Center. DARNELL RENEE, CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

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Adelia Sandoval of the Juaneno Band of Mission Indians performs a blessing at the grand opening of Reata Park and Event Center. DARNELL RENEE, CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

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Dick Paulsen, vice president of the San Juan Capistrano Open Space Foundation, shows a plaque he received from Mayor Sam Allevato at the grand opening of Reata Park and Event Center. The Open Space Foundation raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay for the park. DARNELL RENEE, CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

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Rancho Mission Viejo executive Gilbert Aguirre speaks during the dedication ceremony for Reata Park and Event Center in San Juan Capistrano. The park site was part of the city's purchase of Rancho Mission Viejo property in 2010. DARNELL RENEE, CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

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Barbara Critchlow, a descendant of the Tow family who lived in a longstanding house that was renovated as part of the Reata Park project, is recognized during the park's dedication ceremony Saturday in San Juan Capistrano. DARNELL RENEE, CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

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Mike Evans, owner of Tree of Life Nursery in San Juan Capistrano, speaks about Reata Park's hundreds of native plants that use much less water than a typical park. “Some have said it's the park of the future,” Evans said. “We have it in San Juan Capistrano right now.” DARNELL RENEE, CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Cowboy Ken has fun with children at the grand opening of San Juan Capistrano's Reata Park and Event Center as he demonstrates how a cow would be branded. DARNELL RENEE, CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Reata Park and Event Center

The park, at 28632 Ortega Highway between the Oaks Farms and the city-owned Rancho Mission Viejo Riding Park, offers trails usable by walkers, bicyclists and horse riders, space for weddings and other events, a restored historical home, an orchard of orange trees and 6,000 plants of about 240 species.

For information about renting space at the park, call 949-493-5911.

A new park opened Saturday off Ortega Highway with a celebration attended by more than 200 San Juan Capistrano residents and neighbors.

Volunteers spent two years building Reata Park and Event Center on 12.5 acres that were part of the city’s $27.5 million purchase of land from Rancho Mission Viejo in 2010, funded by a voter-approved $30 million bond.

The San Juan Capistrano Open Space Foundation, a nonprofit led by former Orange County Sheriff Brad Gates, raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay for the park, which includes an intricate bioswale and channeling system that prevents runoff to San Juan Creek. It also has hundreds of native plants that use much less water than a typical park.

“Some have said it’s the park of the future,” said Mike Evans, owner of Tree of Life Nursery. “We have it in San Juan Capistrano right now.”

Evans managed the placement and planting of the approximately 240 species of native plants that grace the park, which he called “one of the most significant botanical resources in Southern California.”.

“Showcasing sustainability, Reata will serve as an example for homeowners and municipalities throughout Southern California,” Evans said.

San Juan Capistrano resident James Tavasci said the park will provide an unmatched opportunity to experience nature.

“Children today, all they know is freeways and the fast life,” he said while walking through the plant-lined grounds. “They don't know the country. This will get them out in nature.”

The city will pay for ongoing maintenance of the park, estimated by City Hall employees to cost up to $300,000 a year. Most of the cost will be covered by the Rancho Mission Viejo Riding Park’s contract with Blenheim Facility Management, which pays City Hall $225,000 a year.

Before the city's purchase, the park land was long part of Rancho Mission Viejo. A home was built there to house ranch employees in the 1920s or ’30s and it became ranch headquarters in the 1940s. The house was renovated as part of the Reata Park project. A descendant of the home's early residents, the Tow family, attended Saturday's ceremony.

Gilbert Aguirre, Rancho Mission Viejo’s executive vice president of ranching operations, told the crowd Saturday that the transformation of the property is “just unbelievable.”

“It’s a dream come true for all us - the city of San Juan, you residents, the ranch and the ranch family,” Aguirre said. “We are not a part of the city, but over the last 132 years we think we are.”

Though the park is part of the city of San Juan Capistrano, it is closer to the new Rancho Mission Viejo homes being built at Ortega Highway and Antonio Parkway and to Ladera Ranch than some parts of San Juan Capistrano. It also neighbors the Oaks Farms, where Del Mar-based developer Davidson Communities is preparing to build 32 luxury homes. Davidson leaders Bill Davidson and Tim O’Grady attended Saturday’s park celebration.

Residents have long been concerned that the land next to the Oaks would meet the same fate as the future gated community. Mayor Sam Allevato said that concern was one of the first things he heard about when he joined the City Council 10 years ago.

Dick Paulsen, vice president of the Open Space Foundation, said preserving land like Reata Park will help protect San Juan Capistrano’s character.

“San Juan Capistrano is special,” Paulsen said. “We’ve got our mission. ... We’ve got our ranching history. We’ve got our equestrians. And you know what underlines all that is this open space.”

The Open Space Foundation will not detail the amount of money collected and who has donated how much, but the most recent Internal Revenue Service records available show the group had $242,535 as of Dec. 31, 2012, with $191,994 acquired after July 1, 2012. Most of the money was paid to a private concern, but Paulsen said no one profited from the payments - the money was used for contracts related to the park construction.

The park has been a source of contention with the City Council. Councilmen Roy Byrnes and Derek Reeve routinely vote against items related to the park, such as new signs and procedural matters related to its construction.

But for the residents who gathered at the park Saturday, none of that seemed to matter.

Dorothy Dalton has long known the area around San Juan Creek off Ortega Highway as a wild wonderland of plants and grass. She’s excited to enjoy the scenery from the park’s new pathways. She and her friend and fellow San Juan Capistrano resident Virginia Sedgwick plan to move their morning walks to the park.

“We’re very impressed,” Sedgwick said.

Evans touted the park’s bird and wildlife watching opportunities. Its gardens will attract frogs, lizards, hummingbirds, butterflies and more, he said, while the paths, benches and tables provide places to read, write, sketch, photograph “or just be alone with your thoughts.”

“I speak from experience when I say personal encounters with nature are good,” Evans said. “They make us well.”

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